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Donovan urges Congress take action against robocalls

Donovan urges Congress take action against robocalls

Vermont Business Magazine Attorney General TJ Donovan urged the US Senate to enact the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (TRACED) Act, legislation to curb illegal robocalls and spoofing. A coalition of 54 attorneys general sent a letter on Tuesday to the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation supporting the TRACED Act. The TRACED Act would require companies to take advantage of a system for call identification to curb illegal robocalls.

“Robocalls can be annoying, but when there is a scammer on the other end of the phone, they can be disastrous,” said Attorney General Donovan. “I call on Congress to do what they can to protect people from illegal robocalls.”

In their letter, the attorneys general state that the TRACED Act enables states, federal regulators, and telecom providers to take steps to combat these illegal calls. The legislation will require voice service providers to participate in a call authentication framework to help block unwanted calls. It will also create an interagency working group to take additional actions to reduce robocalls and hold telemarketers and robocallers accountable.

More than 48 billion robocalls were made in 2018, making them the number one source of consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and resulting in millions of dollars in consumer losses. In Vermont, the majority of complaints received at the AG’s Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) involved robocalls.